Down to the Rapture

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(loveit @ Mar 6 2007, 12:55 PM) [snapback]400969[/snapback]</div>

Yep.

And btw, there are people who consider themselves both. They follow the way of the Buddha, while believing in your God and Jesus as the savior. The two aren't mutually exclusive.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(livelychick @ Mar 6 2007, 12:00 PM) [snapback]400974[/snapback]</div>

Yea.. theres people that do allot of things... There is allot of deception out there..

(Mat 6:24 NKJV) "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

I relieved to hear Buddist do not serve a man..... so they serve an idea!
Or is it an unseen force that they cannot touch?... like "the force be with you?"

I wonder how they come up with all the sophisticated rules?..

 

Thanks for chiming in livelychick. I'm glad you study the Buddhas teachings. They are very much like Christs, indeed. It doesn't take extreme discipline to be a Buddhist. We all experience the negative impacts of our desires, but with time we can have a better understanding of what causes our own suffering and prevent it (while helping others).

Windstrings, we don't worship Buddha. We don't ask him for favors or for to heal the sick.



<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(windstrings @ Mar 6 2007, 02:06 PM) [snapback]400978[/snapback]</div>

You are so confused..

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(windstrings @ Mar 6 2007, 01:06 PM) [snapback]400978[/snapback]</div>

Once again, your quote does not quite fit the bill. Big surprise there.

So, by your own standards, a person who:

1) believes in God, that Jesus was born to the virgin Mary, that he was crucified and rose after the third day..
2) believes that Jesus did all of that stuff because he was sent by his father to die for all of humankind's sins...
3) believes in what Jesus said and did...
4) believes other Christian dogma, including (at least) the New Testament of the Bible,
4) and happens to believe in many of the things that the Buddha said (because they are very similar to some of the things that Christ said), practices meditation, understands the four Noble Truths, etc.

That's not a Christian to you? Wow. You really are closed off. You're even condemning your own kind.

 

Doing good deeds are great, but good deeds alone will not get you into heaven.

As Windstrings says, you cannot serve two masters at the same time.

How can a person answer to two authorities without conflicts?

They cannot.

Therefore there will be only One Supreme Authority.

You cannot serve Buddha and Jesus at the same time.

Some of the wisdom and ideas may be great but the big difference between Buddha and Jesus is that Buddha was only a man and is now dead, while Jesus is The Son of God and is still living.

Is it the ideas of Buddha that you serve? Is it Buddha that you worship?

Why is it that when I go into a Chinese restaurant and see a statue of Buddha on the floor on top of a mat, with burning incense, and flowers, and food there? Why is that?

To me that is worshipping a piece of stone, which according to the bible is an idol.

So how can Buddha and Jesus be the same?

Are you telling me that people who are Buddhists don't worship Buddha?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(desynch @ Mar 6 2007, 01:22 PM) [snapback]400990[/snapback]</div>

You're welcome. My pleasure. I do find it takes a lot of discipline, and being raised a Protestant, I do have feelings of guilt when I don't meet the expectations that I set for myself. The five precepts get me every time. (Well, only a few of them do...) I strive, but fail. And that's part of the journey.

The Ten Commandments? Cake. I do those with my eyes closed! The five precepts? Haaaarrrrrddddd...

 

Mankind likes to fullfill the need to worship with something that is an idol or a substitute so they can make up all the rules and not be accountable.

You notice, it doesn't matter if your lukewarm or if you barely believe or even if you follow except when your in the mood?

You have no religion at all except that you worship your own self will... no different than eve in the garden.... thats what brought sin upon us, not what will take it away.

I know.. you don't believe in sin either, that would mean someone is giving your rules, and you bow to no authority.

You also don't believe in good... because that would mean there is bad... and we can't have "bad".

Face it, you really believe in nothing at all... and the Buddist how bow the knee and pray, no not the god they pray to or even if there is a god.

Elijah once mocked the gods of the 450 prophets as they prayed to thier gods and cut themselve with stones to evoke his response, but they were all killed and God consumed with fire.....

Every once in a while God sets the record straight... of course when He does.. its too late..... anybody can serve out of fear.. He wants relationship and love from you..... not your intellect.

 

Wow. The ignorance is amazing. That is not be to taken as an insult, as ignorance can be cured with knowledge.

No, Buddhists do not worship Buddha (some sects may, but it is not standard practice).

No, that is probably not The Buddha at the Chinese restaurant you are going to. Is it the fat monk with the big smile and big belly? No, that isn't Buddha. Again.. Ignorance.

We do not SERVE ideas or idols. We strive for innerpeace and nirvana. We strive to help others get away from suffering and achieve innerpeace/nirvana. Buddhism is a way of life.

No one said Jesus and Buddha are the same, we said they taught alot of the same principals. As a matter of fact, it can be said that Jesus may have studied some Buddhism, especially being in the area he was.

Buddha didn't want to be worshipped or idolized. He was simply a teacher. He never claimed to be divine. He didn't claim to levitate, heal the sick, bring the dead back, cast out demons (unless, figuratively, you consider demons to be things such as greed, hate, suffering, etc), or anything like that. He was a man that saw that material things do not lead to happiness and that there is a way out of suffering.

Jesus is what we could considera Bodhisatta. Someone that dedicated their life to helping others get to Heaven(nirvana).

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(desynch @ Mar 6 2007, 12:22 PM) [snapback]400990[/snapback]</div>

Thats because he's dead.... when you die, to who's arms will you go to?

And if the afterlife doesn't exist.. why serving any idea or God.... what whatever you can get away with to whoever you can, when you can.... its all about you and then you die, right?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(loveit @ Mar 6 2007, 01:34 PM) [snapback]400999[/snapback]</div>

I'll repeat it again for you...slowly, so maybe this time you get it...

In Buddhism, there is NO WORSHIP!!!! NO WORSHIP!!!! I'll say it again a little more slowly...

Iiiinnnn BBBBuuuuddddddddhhhhhhiiiiiiisssssmmmmm, ttttthhhhheeerrrreeee iiiissss nnnnoooo wwwwooorrrssshhhiiippp. With your frame of reference coming from a monotheistic background, I understand it's hard for you to understand. When I was younger, it was hard for me to understand, too. Yes, you can't be a Christian and Satanist. You can't be a Christian and a Jew.

However, you can be a Christian and a Buddhist. Just like you can be a Christian and still dig the philosophy of Socrates, or Plato, or whoever. So yes, a Christian can follow the ways of Buddhism and still be a Christian who has your basic belief system.

Please, I've asked you before, please have a basis of knowledge of something before you spew. It really doesn't help you. And btw, I'm not asking you to be a Buddhist, or change your religion. My point is only that there are Christians who are also Buddhists.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(windstrings @ Mar 6 2007, 02:41 PM) [snapback]401006[/snapback]</div>

You know not of what you speak. Your knowledge of Buddhism and Buddhist principals is lacking. Which is to be expected from someone that thinks any other walks of life are "dark sided".



<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(windstrings @ Mar 6 2007, 02:44 PM) [snapback]401011[/snapback]</div>

Once again, your lack of knowledge regarding Buddhism is adundant.

Read about Karma, Dharma, and reincarnation - that is, if you can take your nose out of the Bible for a few minutes.

 

OK, this is probably going to unwittingly throw more flame on the fires, but that's just TS.

desynch & livelychick what would you recommend as far as reading to learn about & understand Buddhism? It's something that's always fascinated me, but I've never gotten around to delving into it. I know there's a couple of branches (everyone hears about Zen). What are the differences?

Thanks!!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Proco @ Mar 6 2007, 01:57 PM) [snapback]401020[/snapback]</div>

Two or three big branches, depending on who you talk to.

Here's a start.

http://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/whatbelieve.pdf

Check it out--453 pages, and free!

Hope this helps!

Amazon has several good books...a couple of titles may put you off as being rather pedestrian, but they're good.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(livelychick @ Mar 6 2007, 02:02 PM) [snapback]401021[/snapback]</div>

Thanks! Let's hear it for high speed printers at work!

 

Desnych or Livelychick, so how does a Buddhist get to heaven? how can a Buddhist help someone else get to heaven?

 

:lol:

this really is too funny...

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(loveit @ Mar 6 2007, 03:11 PM) [snapback]401081[/snapback]</div>

Wow. You really do need to read a little more. It's a moot question, really.

But, if it makes you feel better, Buddhists who have no other religious ties don't subscribe to your belief of heaven. I know you can't comprehend that. More or less, in layman's terms, the world around you is defined by how you interact with it. In doing the right things, you can create a higher state of existence...not so much higher in a hierarchical sense, but in that you release the cycles of suffering, etc., and achieve enlightenment.

The Buddha himself never preached on a hereafter, or eternal bliss, or "higher powers."

However, if a Buddhist is also a Christian, I imagine that he or she gets to heaven the same way you think you'll get to heaven.

(I wouldn't know. St. Peter and I have never spoken. But I'm sure you have...)

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(galaxee @ Mar 6 2007, 03:28 PM) [snapback]401091[/snapback]</div>

I thought so, too. Kinda like asking "How does a Christian get his 40 Virgins in the hereafter?"

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(livelychick @ Mar 6 2007, 04:36 PM) [snapback]401100[/snapback]</div>

Oh, crap. I thought we were supposed to be enlightening the virgins on Earth.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hyo silver @ Mar 6 2007, 03:42 PM) [snapback]401114[/snapback]</div>

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

How does a Buddhist get to Heaven?

Heh..

Wow.

If by Heaven, you mean "Enlightenment" or "Nirvana".. well, it takes being a good person with an open heart. It takes compassion. It takes understanding. It takes wisdom and knowledge. It takes understanding what causes your own suffering and realizing how to avoid it. It takes seperating yourself from your "Ego", and from your materialistic posessions. The Eight Fold path and 4 Noble truths will lead to the end of suffering.

and.. it takes, usually, many - many lifetimes..

ps - I'm not trying to change anyones beliefs.. I'm only answering your questions to the best of my ability. I am not Enlightened, nor am I a Bodhisatta.